Guidebook to London prostitutes

1778

Intro

This image is from Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, a popular guide to prostitutes in London. Wealthy readers could browse the guide to find details of each lady's personality, physical appearance and background. The appearance of prostitutes at evening time was a familiar part of life in 18th-century towns, and prostitutes catered to all tastes among the rich and poor alike. In London, scores of street walkers plied their trade up and down the Strand, and swarmed in the theatres and taverns of the capital. Dozens of infamous bawdy-houses could be found up narrow alleyways and down side streets, and even ships moored on the Thames were sometimes converted into brothels.